Philly Moms

Philadelphia Snowstorm #4- Are You Snover It? Ready for Flowers?

I'm drinking my cup of french vanilla coffee watching the beautiful flakes begin to fall next to my daughter who is busy (for now) coloring in her girly garden fairy coloring book. "No school- yippee," she says as memories of my own childhood race through my mind.  

Philadelphia's fourth snowstorm is already hitting us hard this morning, ironically, right before the Philadelphia Flower Show this weekend.  While many people are Snover It, complaining and griping about our city's stinky effort this season to remove the snow from the previous few storms, I'm loving it!  As much as I love warm weather, flowers and my gardens in the spring and summer, this record dumping snow has been a blessing and given me several days off of work this winter and more time with my kids.   

Making My Car A No Phone Zone Is Just NOT For Me.

I'm a huge fan of being a safe driver, NOT a distracted driver.  I'm also a huge fan of Oprah.  But I'm just NOT on board with her recent campaign to make our cars No Phone Zones.  I've been in sales for 15+ years and have had a cell phone since as long as I can remember.  I've had BIG phones, speaker phones, flip phones and now have a blackberry and an iPhone (yes, I have two phones!)  I'm on the phone so much that I generally get a new phone every year.  Verizon...LOVES me.

Talking on my phone while driving makes all the travel I do bearable and time efficient.  It's lonely and tough being on the road so much, especially when I'm missing my three kids at home and thinking about all of the things that I need to get taken care of for both work and my personal life.  And if I pulled over to the side of the road to make calls, I'd be there all day.  If I waited until I got home, I'd be ignoring my kids and be a distracted parent.  I'm all about time management.  My car is my second home and my office.  Would you take the phone out of your home or office?

I did think about signing Oprah's no phone pledge.  I clicked on her website and when I thought about it, I just could NOT check all of the boxes.  There were three boxes.  The first, to agree to NOT text while driving.  The second, to only use a hands-free device while talking.  And the third, to completely agree to NEVER text or talk while driving- making your car a NO Phone Zone.  I could only agree to the first. 

U.S. Women Are Not Feeling Happy- What's the Matter?

 

Tonight, I heard Oprah calling my name from my DVR.  My husband was out, kids were in bed, work was finished and I thankfully ignored the dishes piled in the sink and the overflowing laundry baskets.  I don't know how I did it, but I did.  I passed right by those sticky dishes and wrinkled clothes and got a cup of tea (pat on the back for me.)

"Watch Me!" I heard her voice go on.

I flipped through the DVR listings and saw "Meet the World's Happiest Women."  How could I resist?  I hit play.  Afterall, happiness is contagious and we can all use a little advice on how to be happy- especially after a long day at work and/or at home with the kids. 

The episode looked at how women live all over the globe from Dubai, Brazil, Japan and Denmark.  Apparently women in Denmark were ranked #1 (U.S. was #23) for happiness by a social psychologist in England.  What makes the Danes so happy? 

First, they get 6 months to 1 year of paid maternity leave.  Hmmm...somehow I wasn't feeling so happy about the 8 weeks of paid leave I had after my daughter was born.  Wouldn't it be nice to still be home with her and PAID? 

If you lose your job in Denmark, the government will pay you 90% of your salary for up to 4 years.  Healthcare is free and, if that's not enough, the government pays your kids to go to college.  Yep- families don't pay.  The Denmark government pays the tuition and the students get about $500.00/week.  What a weight to be lifted off of your shoulders not having to dump a portion of your paycheck into 529 accounts.  I will mention they do have a much higher income tax rate over there.  But if everything else is taken care of does that matter?

Philadelphia Snowstorm- Let it Snow!

The Philadelphia area is getting socked with snow and just in time for Christmas.  Our family is thrilled about the prediction of 12+ inches of the fluffy white stuff.  I'm not a skier, not a fan of cold weather or icy toes. But if it's going to snow- Let It SNOW!  We haven't had a big storm in the Mid-Atlantic region in years and personally I don't enjoy or have time for only 2 inches of inconvenient mess.  Bring on the white Christmas! 

My day started this morning at 6:00 a.m.  I jumped out of bed fearing that I left that minivan door open last night on the way home from the mobbed grocery store with the usual snow storm supplies (milk, eggs, bread, marshmallows, essential soup & cookie making ingredients).  Luckily, I closed the door properly- for once.  Happily, I moved on to making my crock-pot of snowstorm stew while 2 of my 3 kids were still sleeping. 

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Online Deals...What Are We Celebrating?

Today was Cyber Monday....the biggest online shopping day of the year.  Spend Spend as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man. 

What is that holiday coming up on December 25th?  Are we celebrating Christmas or a good sale & online deal?  Really, Christmas has become a ridiculously over commercialized holiday. How did the holiday ritual of gift giving become so overdone? It seems as if it's just become a reason to go out and buy a new flat-screen TV.  I mean the Country even makes predictions on the state of the economy by how much we spend at Christmas time.

Last year, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my husband's family.  While I adore his family (Really, I do!) the gifts were absolutely out of control.  I don't at all want to knock their amazing generosity, but the kids just ripped through package after package- without even getting to appreciate or see what was in the previous. 

At one point my daughter, 4 at the time, was waiting patiently to GIVE a little gift to her Great Grandmother.  It was a paint stick that she crafted with love at pre-school into a clever little snowman ruler to measure snow.  She wrapped it herself.  I looked at my daughter standing in front of her Great Grandmother patiently with her little gift to give.  

Then, someone threw another gift at her to open.  Her eyes filled up with tears.  She just wanted her turn to give a gift, one that she worked so hard making.  I thought what happened to taking turns so we could actually watch the other person's joy when they receive the gift.  And what happened to giving just one or maybe two thoughtful gifts?  

Please Government - Don't Screw With Our Breast Cancer Screening!

The American Cancer Society recommends that women undergo an Annual Mammogram starting at age 40.  Their guidelines have not changed.  But if you've been following the news this week, you may have heard about the new recommendations from the US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF)- which is a Government Panel of doctors.  This USPSTF claims that women don't need them until age 50.  They say that there are more false positives when you start screening at age 40 which cause anxiety and unnecessary biopsies. 

As far as I know, nobody has ever died from a false positive or the anxiety associated with a false positive.  Did you know that screening women in their 40s reduces breast cancer deaths by 15%?  Of course, not as many women are going to have the disease between ages 40-49  vs. ages 50 and greater because as we age our risk of getting breast cancer increases.  I guess the USPSTF just doesn't feel that Mammography saves enough lives in the younger age group, an age group where many women are mothers with young children.  Can we really put a number on the life of a mother?  

I have a couple concerns with these new government recommendations.  First, women may get confused and use the "age 50" recommendation as an excuse not to get a mammogram.  I mean come on, who really wants or enjoys getting their boobs squeezed in a big machine. Secondly, are insurance companies going to use these new government panel guidelines to set reimbursement coverage instead of what the American Cancer Society recommends?  I hope not.  Women need to have the option to get routine mammograms at age 40 without paying out of pocket.

Happy Halloween- The Spooky Swine Flu Is Lurking At Our Pre-School.

I can't even believe I'm writing about the swine flu again!  I wish I were a sports fan so I could intelligently write about the Phillies and the Yankees playing in the World Series.

But In the midst of filling up 16 pumpkin treat bags for my son's class and baking 18 spooky cupcakes for my daughter's Halloween party, my daughter brought me "the note."  Yes, it came home with her latest glittery Halloween paper craft- the DREADED "swine flu" letter from the pre-school director. 

I guess I knew it was coming.  This virus has been spreading all over Bucks County the Philadelphia area.  And now there has been 1 confirmed case of H1N1 virus at my kids' pre-school and several other kids are out sick with "flu-like" symptoms.  The note says,"the absentee rate is not alarmingly high at this point.  We will keep you informed."  
 

Then, the phone rings.  It's my girlfriend calling to gossip about "the note."  She says, "Do you think Ms. Director purposely timed sending the note home with Halloween?"  She goes on, "10 of the 17 kids in my son's class were out sick Monday!"  Hmmm...sounds alarmingly high to me. 

H1N1 in PA- What's Your School Doing?

The swine flu, the dreaded H1N1 virus, is spreading in PA.  It's all over the news lately.  I try to keep the TV off because with a newborn (9 weeks) at home, I've become a certified "germaphobe." And unavoidably, our other two kids (both pre-schoolers) will be bringing home all sorts of germs soon.  

At the beginning of the school year we found out that friends of ours had the swine flu.  The whole family came down with it.  How do I know this?  My husband ran into them at the K-mart!  They said, "Don't come too close...we have the swine flu!"  

I thought, "What the ___ are you all doing out at the K-Mart?"  Stay home if you have the swine flu!  No wonder this sucker is spreading so rapidly.  I know people may need to get medicine, but have a friend or neighbor pick up your supplies and drop them on your doorstep.  

Can I Blow Out Grandma's Birthday Candles?

Every year when March 13th rolls around, we get out the cake pans to make a very special birthday cake.  This year, at my daughter's request, we made pink cupcakes. Why?  Because pink is her favorite color of course!  But looking back, these sweet pink cupcakes represented more than just a little girl's favorite color.  They symbolized a life that was lost to Breast Cancer.

Grandma died about 13 years ago- six years before I got married and eight years before our first daughter was born.  Although, I never met my husband's mother and my kids will never meet their grandmother, I somehow feel her presence in our life on a daily basis.  It's not because her picture in on our mantel or because I just wrote her name on the family tree in our new baby's baby book.

You Can't Lay Me Off! I'm On Maternity Leave...or Can You?

I'm kissing my job goodbye (not by choice).  For the past 7 months, things with my job have been a little uneasy (to put it nicely).  I am a sales rep for a Biotech Company who just happened to be selling a drug that has been voluntarily pulled from the market.  The craziest part is this layoff really has nothing to do with the failing economy- just bum luck! To top it all off, our company was bought out by a larger Pharmaceutical company.  But are they laying off tons of people?  No- less than 1%.  And as far as the sales force goes- just my team. 

The company has done "their best" to place us in other positions, but if you aren't relocatable your options are limited.  E-mails go out posting positions in Austin, Texas and Shreveport, Louisiana.  But as a full time working mother with my third baby due in less than two weeks, my support system is here in the Philadelphia area.  Our family is just not willing to relocate.  I don't live to work.  I work to live and to live with my family in the suburbs of Philadelphia.